Author Topic: Odious and not obvious odometer  (Read 1477 times)

Joel Ashley

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  • OSU Class of '73, Oregon Native. RVing 39 years
Odious and not obvious odometer
« on: August 09, 2020, 02:04:42 AM »
One minor but still aggravating feature of our coach is the digital odometer.  I don’t know about modern cars, but good old ones of my day were mechanical that I could actually see, and that were visible even with the key off.

Our Beaver perplexes me every time I fuel it and log the odometer reading to track performance, or need to supply someone with mileage.  The screen beyond being tiny, is at the bottom of the dash display and partially blocked by a steering wheel that prevents an optimal approach.  I have to practically put my head on the seat and use a flashlight to see the thing.  And if I’ve already parked at a site and setup for the evening before remembering to fill in my trip diary, I have to retrieve keys and turn the ignition to ON to activate the readout. 

If the wife or others are watching TV news or something at the time, doing that locks out the TV, incurring dark notes of response, especially onerous given with bifocals it takes me awhile to get my face positioned for any usable focus on the diminutive odometer.  I’m sure many of you know exactly what I mean.

As I recall (I haven’t driven the coach for over 3 years), the Aladdin can provide the mileage if I have it set right.  Still, I remember many expressions of enmity toward whatever sharp-eyed youthful engineer designed that dash display, incorporating the minimalist, dim odometer screen as inconvenient to elder eyes as possible.

My question to those who may know, is whether there is a simple-to-install, decent-looking auxiliary odometer screen available to overcome my tribulations whenever we can get Monty Rae back on the road.  I’m not looking to replace the entire instrument panel, like with the Silverleaf, as some have done.  This thing has been an issue for me since the coach was driven off the lot in Bend in 2006, one of the few negative and unresolved design aspects we encountered.

Joel
Joel and Lee Rae Ashley
Clackamas, Oregon
36.9 ft. 2006 Monterey Ventura IV, aka"Monty Rae"
C9 400HP Cat

Bill Lampkin

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Re: Odious and not obvious odometer
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2020, 03:41:36 AM »
Amazon has several of these GPS based odometers. Not sure if that fits your bill of materials. YOu might have to replace the spedo to get a more readable odo, try Auto Meter. But again, I'm not sure that will work. I did find an Auto Meter clock that had the orange needle and off white background to match my dash; I forget the name, but you could go to Auto Meter and check it out.
2005 Patriot Thunder Lexington, 3 slides
40' tag axle (short wheelbase)
525 hp C13

"Goin where the weather suits my clothes..."

Mike Shumack

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Re: Odious and not obvious odometer
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2020, 12:28:53 PM »
You may want to consider a "hub odometer". it is a simple and inexpensive device that mounts using two of the drive axle retaining bolts and measures distance traveled by converting the rotation of the  tire to a mechanical counter on the face of the device. No power needed. The downside is that you have to stop and get out of the Coach to read it. They can be ordered with a specific starting reading (to match the current mileage) otherwise they will just read zero when new and you add your existing odometer number to the reading on the hub to get the true mileage.

Such as: http://www.stemco.com/product/standard-hubodometer/

and https://www.rvsolutions.us/#:~:text=Hub-o-meter%20The%20Hub-o-meter%2C%20or%20mileage%20counter%20is%20a,tow%20vehicles%20such%20as%20travel%20trailers%20and%20fifth-wheels.

Bob Stone

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Re: Odious and not obvious odometer
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2020, 08:13:20 PM »
Joel, I can certainly relate to your frustration with the tiny, inaccessible odometer. However there is a screen on the Aladdin display that gives the total miles. I'll try to attach a photo of same.
Regards from Alberta.
Bob
« Last Edit: August 09, 2020, 08:22:06 PM by Bob Stone »
Bob Stone
'05 Monterey Laguna IV  Cat C-9

Scott Shearer

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Re: Odious and not obvious odometer
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2020, 09:28:11 PM »
Agree Joel, extremely poor panel layout. On ours, the location of the air gauge makes it almost impossible to scan while traveling.

I use my phone to capture an image of the odometer, you can get the perfect angle without having to contort your body…works for me anyway.

The Aladdin system does show the total miles stored in the ECU, but will most likely differ from the odometer reading, so you would want to be consistent with which reading to use. The Aladdin menu selection is ‘Trip Meter Select’.
Scott & Susie Shearer
2006 Patriot Thunder
Lexington IV 40'
Cat C13
2015 JKU Hard Rock